On 7 May 2014, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, (United Arab Emirates Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai) awarded Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid of Malaysia the prestigious Zayed International Prize for the Environment, recognized as the world’s most respected and valuable environment award. The prize highlights Dr. Zakri’s distinguished career as a leading scientist, diplomat, administrator and tireless advocate of biodiversity conservation, sustainable development policy and environmental education.

Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid

Receiving the award in the category of “Scientific and or Technological Achievement in Environment” Dr. Zakri joins an esteemed group of Zayed laureates including former US president Jimmy Carter and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Speaking to the media Dr. Zakri commented that, “This year, Prince Albert II of Monaco was named the global winner of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment Award. It is an honour to be included among the ranks of such distinguished world figures.”

In bestowing the award, The Zayed International Foundation for Environment lauded Dr. Zakri’s “wide-ranging contributions to the environmental and sustainable development agendas”, noting that “as co-Chair of the [2005] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report — a ground-breaking study with over 2,000 individual authors — Dr. Hamid was instrumental in developing a number of the report’s key findings.” The committee further spotlighted his leadership at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, where he served as Director from 2001–2008.

Dr. Zakri was appointed in 2010 as Science Advisor to Malaysia’s Prime Minister, in addition to current roles as founding Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and as one of 26 members of the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board. He also serves on a number of boards of trustees around the world, such as the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development Fellowship Program in Kuwait and the board of trustees for the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development.

The Zayed International Prize for the Environment was established in 1999 by UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to acknowledge the environmental commitment of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.